Detained Sen. Rodante Marcoleta said Thursday he will not ask the Sandiganbayan for temporary release to participate in a Senate vote on the disputed conviction threshold in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Marcoleta said the Constitution already requires the concurrence of two-thirds of all senators for conviction and argued that the threshold should not be subject to alteration.
“I will not move for a furlough just to vote for the threshold,” Marcoleta told reporters after a hearing on his bail petition before the Sandiganbayan Third Division.
Marcoleta remains detained while facing a plunder charge involving Php 75 million in alleged undeclared campaign contributions connected to his 2025 Senate bid. He has denied wrongdoing and is seeking bail.
During the bail hearing, Ombudsman Field Investigation Bureau Director Maria Melinda Mananghaya-Henson testified that businessman Aristotle Viray allegedly said Marcoleta personally solicited a campaign contribution from him. The allegation remains part of the prosecution’s case and has not been finally adjudicated.
Marcoleta is charged alongside former lawmaker Michael Defensor and businessmen Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray in the plunder case.
